Yes, I think you threw in the towel too early. I don't know what they were saying at hashtalk.org (actually, I have never even heard of hashtalk.org), but you should really give it a shot.

I was one of those questioning the structure of the deal (and was hoping you would change it), but I was still going to invest at least a little. I think the idea is solid. Also, you quit just after quiwoman2 (who runs the QBK coin) reached out to you (on this forum). She sounded interested in the concept. That's worth a conversation right there. QBK had its ICO on Poloniex at .0002 and in about a month it is trading at around .00062 (as I write this), plus it has already paid a dividend.

People wait until the last minute. I hated the Craigscoin idea (and definitely did not invest -- thankfully as it was a dud), but nearly all of the BTC came in during the last 48 hours. (That was on Bittrex too)

I say, as best as you can, tweak the details of the ICO to answer your critics and still make you happy. Now, I have no idea what your critics were so upset about at hashtalk.org, so that may not be possible. All I am saying is now that you have some feedback, maybe you would like to make a minor change or two to the ICO terms, and continue on. Maybe extend the ICO deadline a bit also.